Things just keep getting better for WordPress.com users. Back in August, the WordPress crew unveiled the custom CSS upgrade for WordPress.com bloggers. Now, WordPress.com users may use their own domain or register a new one to pair with their blog. The main result being that your blog will have its own domain and won’t be bothered with using a WordPress.com subdomain.
Of course, this is a pay service and is brilliant for WordPress.com’s business model. If you already own your own domain, mapping it will cost $10 per year. Alternatively you can choose to purchase a new domain through WordPress.com for $15 per year.
VIP hosting is another unique WordPress.com offering that has been around for exactly one month. Similar to the newly released domains feature, VIP hosted blogs receive the ability to use their own domain in addition to having a fully customizable WordPress account and load-balanced hosting.
PaulStamatiou.com runs on the Thesis Theme for WordPress
Thesis is the search engine optimized WordPress theme of choice for serious online publishers. If you’re a blogger who doesn’t understand a lot of PHP, Thesis will give a ton of functionality without having to alter any code. For the advanced, Thesis has incredible customization possibilities via Thesis hooks.
With so many design options, you can use the template over and over and never have it look like the same site. The theme is robust and flexible enough not only to accommodate a site like PaulStamatiou.com, but also to enable the site to run far more efficiently than it ever has before.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I think they are effectively blowing blogger and other solutions out of the water.
This is brilliant. It’s a good price for what I’m assuming is a widely requested feature. I know that if I used my Wordpress-hosted blog, I would surely utilize this service.
Agreed. They’re easily the best hosted blogging tool on the market.
I agree with Ben, but they still don’t allow you to place ads on your blog.
Well VIP hosting is 250$/month and 500$ setup fee so this is way too expensive (for me at least). Domain hosting is a good feature but you can’t customize your blog, but I guess if you really want to, you’d get your own host and a domain…
I know this is supposedly a much requested feature but I would expect WordPress enthusiasts (who already have a domain) to already be running their own hosted WordPress. Or am I missing something ?
The fact that you’ll be paying about $120 per year at a minimum for reliable, fast hosting to run said WordPress on, Andy? ;)
Fair point but ‘WP enthusiasts’ probably want plugins, Javascript, themes, Adsense, complete control etc. It will be interesting to see the take-up.
Kyle: The question is, how many users are leaving Blogger (or signing up for wp.com instead of it)? Wordpress.com is clearly the best option, but how is the marketing working?
If adding the domain is yet another great feature for your everyday blogger, then keep ‘em coming fast. This helps a lot of users who may not be up-to-date on hosted blogs let alone hosted http pages. Good to see this along with support for custom CSS.
I’d like to recommend my Quick Blog application to everybody for a viable solution. I think it is very user friendly and easy as anything to get up and running . There is a special running till the end of January to get a free .NAME domain with purchase. you can see details at https://www.securepaynet.net/gdshop/blog/landing.asp?se=+&prog_id=411404&app_hdr=&ci=5276
Its a great little application for someone who just wants to get a blog up and running quickly. Pluse you will be on your own domain and also have email capabilities where I understand you won’t with a WP solution. Feel free to check it out! Thanks, Jonathan